The Art of Listening
by Kelirehenna
Summary: Sometimes, as Brooklyn learns, it would be best to just listen. [BrooklynMystel]


Title: The Art of Listening

Rating: T

Pairing: Brooklyn/Mystel

Warning: Includes yaoi. Don't like, don't read.

Disclaimer: Beyblade and it's characters do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and (hopefully) the others.

Summary: Sometimes, as Brooklyn learns, it would be best to just listen.

Dedicated to: Katie and Nancy, because both of them worked as my beta readers and because without them this story would not exist.

A/N: My first fic. Hurrah!

I love this couple so much (however random it is), and it makes me sad that there are so few Brooklyn/Mystel-stories out there. Hopefully that will change some day.

Now, about Mystel's age... I know that most of the people consider him rather young, and that's fine with me. I, however, like to think that he's 15 in G-Revolution, so that's his age in this story too. Brooklyn is 17.

More info you might or might not find from my profile.

I, as well as anyone, appreciate reviews and constructive criticism.

**The Art of Listening**

"Brooklyn!"

Brooklyn often wondered what it was about Mystel exactly that always made him smile. It could have been just the vivid personality, the liveliness that he self did not possess and most likely would never do. Whereas Mystel was something of a firecracker, always full of energy, playfulness and laughter, Brooklyn himself was more like a quiet dreamer. But he liked it that way. The way he saw it, Mystel was probably the only one who could always bring him up when he was feeling down - no matter how dark his thoughts were - and make him smile to life in general. There was something almost magical about the way how Mystel would just look upon his darkened face, nonchalantly come next to him, smile and ask whether Brooklyn would like to come and see the hedgehogs with him. It was practically impossible to be broody and sullen when Mystel was around.

Even thought Brooklyn did find his Egyptian friend almost perfect, he did possess some traits that were not always so appreciated. Some other people who knew Mystel could have all agreed that however sweet and kind the blond was, there was also a dark side of him; he could be irresponsible, stubborn and his lack of seriousness would sometimes get seriously annoying. His behavior was highly unpredictable, and that could cause a lot of trouble at times. He was also poor at taking commands and didn't like to live by the rules. Not if they were made by other people.

If anyone would try and force the blond to act differently than he himself would have wanted, he would not get mad at them, he'd just merely leave the scene and would not come back until he was sure that people had forgotten what it was that they wanted Mystel to do in the first place. So far, it had worked out pretty well.

Brooklyn remembered lively when soon after the championships, after their loss, four members of the old BEGA-team had been sitting silently, deep in thoughts. Mystel had looked at them all and started to laugh. Garland, a bit annoyed even if he did not like to show it to Mystel, had asked the reason for his laughter. Mystel, however, did not answer. Brooklyn, still feeling a bit guilty about their defeat, had immediately asked why was the younger blader being so happy even though they had lost. Mystel had just gave him one of his curious smiles, shrugged and said that the way he saw it, everyone else where doing the whole "being serious"-business so well that there was no need for him to join the club. In that moment Brooklyn had though that Mystel was just too young to understand the meaning of losing. Only later had he realized that Mystel had most likely understood better than any of them.

All of the BEGA-team members had a different approach when it came to Mystel. In the beginning of their friendship, both Ming-Ming and Crusher had been a bit puzzled by Mystel's somewhat erratic behaviour, sometimes even to the point of aggravation. As so many others, they had tried to explain the blond how he should act a bit more like an adult instead of a child, and as usual, the blond would not listen one word they said, only smile. Soon both of them had stopped telling Mystel what to do, partly because it was so useless and partly because they got used to his ways. Besides, as they had learned, it was really hard to stay aggravated with someone so full of childlike joy and appreciation for simple things in life. In their minds, if someone was willing to wake up early enough to see the sunrise, just to be able to run back to the house screaming something along the lines "Brooklyn, you must see it, the sunrise, it's beautiful, come on now!", he was clearly not the person who they should teach to be boring and responsible adult. There were enough of those in this world anyway.

Garland had not given up so easily. But then again, Garland had always been like a big brother to all of them, and he seemed to think that it was his sole duty to make them behave and act properly. He had given up on Brooklyn the very first minute they had met, but he just completely refused to give up with Mystel too. He had taken into his mission to make Mystel act like a normal person, at least when out in public. And he tried. No one could have accused him of not trying enough. But like all the others, he was not able to make Mystel change his habits, not one bit. He might have lectured him about subjects like "Why it is impolite to neglect doors and come inside trough dormers" or "Why I should not wake people up 3 AM for no reason whatsoever", but all those speeches just seemed to bounce right off Mystel's mind. He would listen when Garland spoke and maybe even look like he was thinking about things he heard, but the truth was that if something Garland said did not appeal to him, he would never really do as he had been told.

"He is worse than you are!" Garland had declared to Brooklyn one day, right after Mystel had ran off after telling everyone that he would not join them for dinner because he wanted apples instead of Garland's cabbage pie. Brooklyn had only smiled peacefully, like usual, and with quite mental force stopped himself from saying that _he_ would have preferred the apples over his older friend's cabbage pie, too. Judging from their faces, Crusher and Ming-Ming agreed wholeheartedly. The difference was, that only Mystel had been politically incorrect enough to say so.

There were times when Garland seriously got fed up with Mystel's unpredictable behavior and tried to tell him to act like a guy in his age should. He would go on and on about it for so long that even Mystel would get annoyed. After that, the ending result was always the same. Mystel would climb up to the highest tree on the garden and sit there until everyone would leave. Garland would be under the tree, jumping up and down almost comically, and yell Mystel to come down and act like a grown-up. He would get bored eventually, as they all did, and he would leave. Before that, he would look upon Brooklyn, the only one who had stayed there to watch the show, and defeatedly say:

"He's all yours".

As soon as he was gone, Brooklyn would climb up the tree and just sit there with the blond. Sooner or later Mystel would talk to him about things. And while they were talking, the younger boy would usually end up deciding to do exactly or something a bit similar to what Garland had wanted him to do in the first place, though – as he always told Brooklyn with this absolutely adorable pout on his face – obviously not because Garland had told him so.

"I do not take orders from anybody. Not unless I want to."

Brooklyn thought it was also adorable when Mystel tried to make him fall off the tree when he laughed to this statement.

Later on, Garland would always ask him how he could make the blond change his mind so easily. And Brooklyn would always answer that it was because they understood each other so well. He couldn't explain it any other way, not to the others anyway.

Brooklyn smiled. He was rambling now, wasn't he? He wondered for a moment what had been the original subject of his thoughts. Oh, right. What was it about Mystel that made him smile? There were many reasons, he was certain about that, but one of the main ones was –

"Brooklyn!"

He might have to ponder that a bit later, then. The sound was coming closer now than the last time he remembered hearing it.

"So here you are then! I've been calling for you at least ten times. Why didn't you answer me?" asked the other one, looking almost hurt.

"Sorry Mystie. I think I might have lost myself for a moment there."

Mystel seemed to cheer up a bit, and he sat down on the grass right next to the red-head.

"Why did you want to see me for?" Brooklyn ask half-interestedly. It was not as if he didn't care for what Mystel wanted to say, it was just that the boy had caught him in a really bad time. Right now, he would have much rather been alone with his thoughts.

"Just wanted to talk", Mystel answered a bit too quickly to be sincere, but Brooklyn decided to play along and just nodded and smiled encouragingly.

"So, you know how I've been telling you that I somehow like this one person? Well, last night, I started thinking about this person again, and I could not sleep, so I went downstairs to watch TV, when Garland, who was coming from his martial art-class, saw me and he asked me if I – "

And Brooklyn stopped listening.

It didn't take any effort, really. He just shut his ears and started thinking other things. Of course, there were rules when you did something like this. The others must not realize that you weren't really listening. But Brooklyn _was_ good at this game. He knew that as long as you copied the facial expressions on others faces, nod now and then and maybe even be so bold to say "mmm" occasionally, no one would notice a thing. If someone would actually remember you long enough to ask you a question, all you usually needed to do was to make a counter-question. "Well, how do you feel about it?" usually did the trick.

"... and he told me to tell about things to this person..."

Brooklyn nodded, because it seemed that it was expected from him. It was amazing, but he really could get away with not listening with almost everybody. Take his old teammates for example. Both Crusher and Ming-Ming would fall for it. Crusher was way too trusting to even suspect that he did not listen, and Ming-Ming - Brooklyn said this with slight amusement and as much love as possible - was usually too focused on herself to notice did her listeners actually listen or not. The fact that Brooklyn smiled when they smiled, looked serious when they were too and nodded always when they wanted to see that the other one was listening was enough to make them believe that he truly listened.

It was not that he didn't care what others wanted to say, as Brooklyn told himself even more and more often nowadays, it was just the fact that he had so much more in his mind.

"... are you still listening?"

Brooklyn realized that the words that had drifted into his mind had sounded a bit uncertain and worried. He smiled in a soothing way and replied smoothly:

"Of course".

His honest look would have made everyone ashamed that they had ever even doubted the fact.

Mystel looked at him for a while and then smiled while obviously trying to hide his confusion: Brooklyn reminded himself to be more careful from now on. He most certainly did not want to make Mystel think that he didn't care about what the blond had to say, because that was simply not true. He just preferred to imagine the things Mystel would say to him.

Mystel started talking again. His face was a bit more serious now so Brooklyn adapted his own expression to fit Mystel's. He nodded more frequently and made it absolutely clear with his appearance that he was listening to every word the Egyptian said.

Garland. Garland must have been one of the only ones who Brooklyn had to actually listen. Mostly because if he didn't, Garland would somehow always notice it, and, because the grey-haired blader could be annoyingly observant about things, start talking about things that usually were related to Mystel.

"You know, our little Mystel has been looking at the pizza guy in a funny way lately. Do you think he has a crush on him?"

After that, he always had Brooklyn's undivided attention.

Brooklyn could hear Mystel laughing nervously about something now, and he gave the blond a grin that would have made most of his fangirls (and boys) swoon.

".. So, what do you think I should say to this person?"

Uh-oh. It appeared that a question had been made. This might blew everything if Brooklyn was to make a mistake. He set a peaceful smile on his face, looked Mystel straight into the eyes and asked:

"Well, what do you think? I mean really. Tell me how you feel about it."

Mystel looked thoughtful for a second and then slowly started explaining again. Brooklyn allowed himself to stare at the younger boy's face for a while.

He liked Mystel a lot. It wasn't a secret. Only thing secret was the the _quality_ of his liking.

Since the very first day they had met, Brooklyn had felt as if he was somehow drawn to the erratic-behaving blond. But since there were so many other things happening at the moment, with BEGA on the rise and everything, their friendship didn't get a real chance until the competitions were over and his... mental breakdown had subsided. Mystel had proven himself to be a real friend, then. Everyone else had pretty much avoided him as much as they could, because they were scared that he might, as the nice doctors had put it, become mentally disordered again. It had been weeks since the whole unfortunate black hole-incident, and Brooklyn still felt like he was all alone in this world, or, alternatively, inside a dull glass box and every one else were outside having fun. Everyone _kept an eye on him_, but no one actually spent any time with him. Even the animals seemed to avoid him now.

Feeling frustrated about everything, one day Brooklyn had gone walking ("Are you sure you're feeling good enough to go alone? We could get someone to come with you if you liked...") alone and ended up to a little park which had swings. Swings were nice, Brooklyn liked swings. It was a pity that no one was there with him now, but Brooklyn didn't feel like asking anybody to come. They would if he asked, of course, but probably only because they felt obligated to.

Suddenly out of seemingly nowhere, Mystel had appeared and asked if he could join him. They both had just sat on the swings for a while, saying nothing. Then Mystel had said that he had seen a hedgehog with a sore paw and that he thought that they should help it. Brooklyn had agreed and they had left together to save the poor creature. After that, as Garland put it, they had been almost inseparable. Garland had been the next one in line to start treating Brooklyn like a normal human being, and soon both Crusher and Ming-Ming had done so too. After that, things had been much easier. Brooklyn just knew that it all had something to do with Mystel, and he could never find a way to thank the boy enough.

"Why did you come to me then? Why do you even like me?" Brooklyn tended to ask from his friend whenever he felt melancholy kicking in.

"Because you are different", he would always get as an answer. It was useless to wait for more accurate explanations.

"... The person is _him_. I hope you don't.. hate me now or anything..."

Only thing Brooklyn heard was that there was a pause in Mystel's talk again, which probably meant that Brooklyn was expected to say something. Nod – no, no nodding, he corrected himself before any action. Mystel's eyes seem to beg for him to not accept what had just been said. Brooklyn shook his head and smiled in a way which he hoped to make Mystel peaceful again. And it worked, he did look relieved now.

"So you knew?"

Knew what?

"I had a feeling that it might be so", Brooklyn recovered beautifully.

Mystel accepted this as an answer and began talking again. He looked rather determined for some reason, and for a brief while, Brooklyn wondered should he start listening. But his thoughts about Mystel were so tempting... Short battle, and he lost to himself and kept on thinking while Mystel kept on talking.

Whenever he actually listened Mystel and had real conversations with him, he always had the feeling that he was with someone who understood him better than anyone else in the world. It didn't matter what the subject was, it could be pollution, lemon garlic sprouts or Mystel's wicked theory of invisible ants who were out there planning on taking over the world, the main thing was that they could talk about everything.

Well, almost.

Brooklyn could never tell or explain how he felt about his blond friend. Not even to himself, really.

It might have been love for all he knew. He didn't recognize his feelings, they were something he had never felt before. But they were strong enough to make him a bit jealous every time when Mystel spoke to other people than him, and to wonder if Mystel liked them more than he liked Brooklyn.

There _was_ someone Mystel liked more than Brooklyn. Brooklyn had to bite his lip to not to show his suddenly rised anger. As far as he knew, Mystel had this absolutely _silly_ crush on some random person who was probably a jerk anyway.

_Why_ did Mystel had to have a crush on someone? Wasn't it enough that he had Brooklyn? It had to be!

"Brookie?"

He realized that his name had been said. Mystel looked a bit scared now and Brooklyn felt instantly like panicking, he did not want to scare the blond away from him!

"Is everything okay? You looked a bit... funny..." Mystel's voice trailed off but his gaze stayed on Brooklyn.

"It's nothing. I just felt like I might have a headache coming on this evening."

"We could talk later if you wish to –"

"No. No need for that. Please, do go on", Brooklyn pleaded and offered a smile.

That had been way too close. Brooklyn hit himself mentally, he should not let Mystel know about these feelings he had. But it was too late to stop and start listening now. He needed this, he needed to think this through.

Mystel _was_ perfect, there were no doubts about it anymore. He was intelligent and childlike at the same time, he was unusual and even radical at times. He was a dreamer like Brooklyn, but he also had his realistic side. He took it as a compliment when people said he was weird. He loved the world around him and was always ready to keep Brooklyn accompanied when the older one wanted to spend some time looking at the stars or running with the wind. He was the one who would help Brooklyn to see the rainbow in the sky after the rain.

Not to mention the younger boy's looks. Oh yes. Brooklyn tented to avoid this subject, at least when he was in company, but he couldn't help himself anymore. There was no proper word to describe the Egyptian's appearance. It was - the only word he could come up with - _exciting._

"... I've decided to tell him about my feelings today..." voice came somewhere far off and said some words Brooklyn did not understand.

_... nod, smile and hope to god that he doesn't stop speaking..._

Mystel was so petite, and yet he seemed to strong... Brooklyn realized that he had blushed a bit now. He hoped so very much that Mystel would not notice.

But Mystel kept talking, and Brooklyn stared at the other boy's lips while they were moving. He noticed that he had started wondering how it would feel like to kiss them. And while that, how would his little Mystel react if he would feel the other one's tongue slightly pressing against his closed lips. Would he open them, even slightly?

He wanted to touch the blond now, he wanted it so badly. Touch him everywhere. And he could only dream how it would be like if Mystel would want to touch him too. He wanted the other one to touch him. It didn't really matter _where_, the only thing that mattered was the touch itself.

And the though of Mystel, laying beneath _him_, moaning _his_ name in ecstasy... Brooklyn swallowed and tore his gaze off from the still talking blond. He told himself to stop. This wasn't the time or the place for thoughts like these. He could continue with this subject in the evening, when he was alone in his bedroom and the bed felt too big and cold. Bathroom might be a proper place too if he could be the last one to use it and Garland would not suspect anything that would afterwards make him say those horrible, horrible comments about how long he had been in the shower.

Brooklyn steadied his breath and tried to stop thinking indecent thoughts about his friend.

"... with me?"

Something had been said. It had been a question, by the looks of the situation. Mystel was looking at Brooklyn nervously and expectantly, and Brooklyn had no idea what to do. Should he nod, should he shake his head? It seemed that Mystel was hoping for a positive answer, but what had been the question? The old "How do you feel about it"-trick would most likely not work now.

Oh god. It was the moment Brooklyn had been afraid of whenever he stopped listening at people. He would have to confess.

"I'm sorry, I was in my own little world for a moment there. Could you please repeat what you asked?"

Well, that didn't sound _so_ bad, Brooklyn decided. Now he just hoped that Mystel would not be offended...

He wasn't. Instead, he blushed and mumbled:

"It was nothing important..."

"I'm sure it was. Please?"

Brooklyn shot his most pleading look at Mystel and hoped that he would speak to him. This time, he would listen.

"I... I just asked whether... if you wanted to go to the movies with me."

Brooklyn blinked. Why on earth would asking something like _that_ make Mystel blush so radiantly? They went to watch a movie or a theater-play together practically every other weekend.

"What, as friends?" somehow slipped through his lips.

Mystel looked at everything else but Brooklyn.

"Yeah, as friends..." he muttered, currently looking at the butterfly resting on his left shoe.

Brooklyn stared at the other's disappointed face and started thinking more quickly than ever. Could it be possible... Maybe Mystel... But if he didn't, and Brooklyn would do something now...

It was a complicated situation. The consequences might be bad, and he could lose his Mystel, possibly forever. But if he would not do anything, he might still lose Mystel. Besides, he did not want to see the blond like that, unhappy and looking lost.

It was a risk, and he did not know how certain the success would be.

It was...

Oh, the hell with it.

Brooklyn surprised Mystel by reaching out his arm and pulling the boy closer, so close he was able to bury his head to the blond hair and whisper hoarsely:

"Or maybe you'd like us to be something else?"

Mystel did not answer, only whimpered slightly; Brooklyn did not know if the boy realized that he had done so.

He changed the position of his head a bit and, out of a sudden desire, licked the other boy's ear. He could feel Mystel swallowing and trying to push himself even closer now, and he grinned.

"You didn't answer me, if I recall correctly", Brooklyn said, quite amused.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I'd like us to be something else."

"Oh really?"

Mystel's annoyed slap to Brooklyn's head made the older boy just grin even more.

"Idiot."

"I deeply resent that".

"That's only because you like yourself too much to admit the truth."

"Nah. I like _you_", Brooklyn declared, smiling. Mystel was now sitting on his lap. He wasn't sure how _that_ had happened, but he wasn't about to complain.

"I like you too", Mystel said shyly, blushed and buried his face on Brooklyn's neck to avoid his eyes.

Brooklyn had never felt happier than he did right now.

"Brooklyn?" Mystel said softly, still resting his face against Brooklyn's neck making his voice a bit muffled.

"Yes?"

"I'd like to see a rainbow now."

Brooklyn could only laugh. At the moment, he was pretty sure that he might be in love with Mystel.

"And you are planning on finding one where, exactly?"

"I thought that you would make me one."

The voice suggested that what Mystel had said was about as ordinary as asking someone to buy some ice cream from a shop.

"Mystie... I can't make rainbows."

"Have you ever tried?"

"Well, no, but –"

"Well there you go then."

"What makes you think I could create you a rainbow?"

"If a person can create black holes, I think it's only reasonable enough to presume they can create rainbows, too."

"I'd suggest that if it's a rainbow you want, you'll do a little raindance and hope that one will show up."

"Are you asking me to dance for you?"

"... Possibly."

"Alright then."

Interestingly enough, it did start raining a few hours later. There was a rainbow too, but neither Brooklyn nor Mystel saw it; at the time they were too focused on each other to notice.

Not that it mattered, though.

There would always be another rainbow for them.

_Why are there so many songs about rainbows  
And what's on the other side?  
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,  
And rainbows have nothing to hide.  
So we've been told and some choose to believe it  
I know they're wrong, wait and see.  
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,  
The lovers, the dreamers and me._

- Kermit the Frog, from The Muppet Movie

Disclaimer: I do not own Kermit the Fog or The Muppet Movie. I'm just an innocent borrower... 

Still here? In that case, I'll remind you that authors love reviews.

Hint hint nudge nudge.


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